The Fraser River Delta provides some of the most important migratory bird habitat in the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture geography. Over 260 species of birds rely on the Fraser River Delta to nest, overwinter, or refuel during long seasonal migrations along the Pacific Flyway.
Between 2024-2025, Pacific Birds published a series of reports about the significance of the Fraser River Delta, threats to bird habitat there, and actions that local governments and others can undertake to protect this area. We have now worked with Nature Trust of British Columbia to develop a series of story maps about those reports.
For the best viewing experience, open the story maps in a separate tab.
Scroll down to read the reports and strategic plans that informed the story maps.
About the Fraser River Delta
Where the Fraser River meets the Salish Sea, just south of Vancouver, it forms a rich and highly productive estuary. An extraordinary number of birds use the Fraser River Delta as a migratory stopover site, making the Delta ecologically valuable on an international scale. In fact, 36% of all estuarine habitat in British Columbia is found in the Fraser River Delta. And of 436 estuaries along the British Columbia coast, the Fraser River Delta has the highest ecological importance to migratory birds.
The Case for Conservation
Migratory bird habitats in the Fraser River Delta are at risk from multiple compounding threats. Without further action, two-thirds of species in the Delta are predicted to have less than a 50% probability of persistence over the next 25 years. Already, the United States and Canada have lost 3 billion breeding birds since 1970—a loss of 1 in 4 birds. This makes it imperative to maintain the Delta’s diversity, quality and abundance of habitat.
Turning Insights Into Action
Pacific Birds is looking to promote wider collaboration and strategic action to steward this critical landscape. Maintaining the exceptional ecological values of these habitats requires a variety of complementary strategies, from promoting sound stewardship practices on public and private lands to enacting local and provincial government policies.
To help species in decline, and prevent new species declines, Pacific Birds has identified six key threats to bird habitats in the Delta:
- Residential and Commercial Development
- Non-Compatible Agriculture
- Climate Change and Severe Weather
- Pollution
- Invasive Species
- Other Key Threats
The story maps and reports provide a range of strategies that local governments can implement to address these threats and support the conservation of migratory bird habitat in the Fraser River Delta.
Learn More
You can learn more about the Fraser River Delta and recommended conservation actions from the following reports:
Pacific Birds has also developed a Coastal Wetlands Strategic Plan and an Implementation Plan for British Columbia:
